Spalding Gleed Boys Class of 1984 reunion

It was the year Band Aid rocked the world, the first Apple Macs were released and DNA profiling was developed, while Gremlins and Ghostbusters dominated the big screen.

And 1984 was also the year Leo Fragale and his 180-strong cohort left Spalding Gleed Boys’ School (now Spalding Academy) for the final time. To mark the 35th anniversary of their heading off into the big wide world, Leo and a couple of his friends have decided the time is ripe for a school reunion.

“We’ve never had a get-together since leaving school,” says Leo, who owns Leo’s Pizza Pasta Place, in Winsover Road, Spalding, “but I recently got chatting to a couple of old friends and we decided it was time to try to get everyone together again as we’ve never done it before. There were six houses in our year, with each one having 29 or 30 pupils in it, so altogether there were around 180 of us.

Gleed reunion organisers Jason Trevey and Leo Fragale.

“I’ve kept in touch with a few people and have tried to contact one person from each house to spread the word and I’ve also shared some information on Facebook and had some flyers printed up. Obviously, I appreciate there are some people who have sadly passed away and others who don’t live locally anymore, but it would be great to see as many old faces as possible to catch up and chat over old times.”

Leo says the reunion, due to take place at the Royal Mail Cart pub, will involve a few social drinks and plenty of chatting and catching up. No food will be served on the night, but there may well be some 80s tunes to enjoy. He’s also keen to see old photos from his school days if anyone has any they can bring along and share on the night.

• The Class of 1984 Spalding Gleed Boys’ reunion will take place at the Royal Mail Cart, Pinchbeck Road, Spalding, from 7pm on Saturday, October 12. Any former boys who left the school that year are welcome to attend.